Afghan police: The explosion was caused by a suicide bombing, which killed and injured most of the students

UAE condemns terrorist attack on an educational center in Kabul

Relatives and medical staff carry an injured girl out of an ambulance outside a hospital in Kabul.

AFP

The UAE has strongly condemned the terrorist attack that targeted an educational center west of the Afghan capital, Kabul, and resulted in the death and injury of a number of people, most of whom were students.

In a statement, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation confirmed that the UAE expresses its strong condemnation of these criminal acts, and its permanent rejection of all forms of violence and terrorism aimed at destabilizing security and stability and inconsistent with humanitarian values ​​and principles.

The Ministry expressed its sincere condolences to the friendly Afghan people, and to the families and families of the victims of these heinous crimes, and its wishes for a speedy recovery to all the injured.

In Kabul, the Afghan police said yesterday that a suicide bombing targeted an educational institute in the Afghan capital, Kabul, killing 19 people and wounding dozens, but no party claimed responsibility for the attack.

Kabul police spokesman Khaled Zadran said 19 people were killed and 27 wounded in the attack.

The spokesman added that the attack took place in an educational institute that was conducting an admission test for new students.

Schools in Afghanistan are usually closed on Fridays.

"Attacking civilian targets demonstrates the cruelty and inhumanity of the enemy, and its lack of moral standards," a Kabul police spokesman said.

Khaled Zadran added, "The students were preparing for an exam when the suicide bomber blew himself up in this educational center."

He did not point the finger at anyone.

The attack took place in the Dasht al-Barshi neighborhood in the west of the capital, a predominantly Shiite area, where the Hazara minority resides.

"The majority of the victims are girls," a student at the scene told AFP, without specifying whether they were among the dead or wounded.

He added that there were about 600 people in the class at this qualifying center that prepares students for university entrance exams.

There were boys and girls in one room, but on two different sides of the hall.

The AFP correspondent also said that the majority of the victims who were taken to hospitals are women.

A merchant, who declined to be named, told AFP, "There was a strong explosion and then chaos spread. Many students, girls and boys, tried to escape from the building."

"It was a terrifying sight, everyone was afraid," he added.

According to an AFP correspondent, the ceiling of the classroom collapsed completely, and the doors and windows were smashed from the force of the explosion.

Video clips were posted on social media, and pictures on local media, showing bloodied victims being transported from the site of the explosion.

Security teams were deployed on the scene as families arrived at various hospitals in search of their relatives.

The official death toll is likely to rise.

A hospital source said 23 people were killed.

A Taliban source stated that the dead were 33, and that female students were among the casualties.

Ghulam Sadiq, a resident of the area, said he was at home when he heard a loud noise and went out to see smoke rising from the educational institute, where he and his neighbors rushed to help.

He added, "My friends and I were able to remove about 15 wounded, and nine bodies, from the site of the explosion... There are other bodies lying under chairs and tables in one of the classrooms."

The US Chargé d'Affairs in Afghanistan, Karen Decker, condemned the blast.

"Targeting a room full of students taking exams is shameful, all students should be able to continue their education in safety and without fear," she wrote on Twitter.

The ages of the students are not yet clear, but private institutes, such as that target, prepare students in the last year of secondary school for university entrance exams.

Follow our latest local and sports news and the latest political and economic developments via Google news